After months of review by local lawmakers, no changes have been made yet to the county’s short term rental ordinance.
Members of the Athens-Clarke County Commission’s Government Operations Committee and government staff met Monday to review the short-term rental, or STR, ordinance passed in February.
Commissioners discussed several models for controlling what they claim to be the negative effects of STRs on residential neighborhoods.
Commissioner Mike Hamby of the Tenth District suggested adopting the strategies of Tybee Island, which directly limit the number of guests allowed in STRS in residential areas and penalize renters who fail to comply.
Government staff said that enforcement may be challenging. Commissioner Melissa Link of the 2nd District, however, had several ideas related to administration of new rules.
“The problem is these are disturbing neighborhoods, and they’re pulling away from our housing stock. If we can require things like security cameras and signage so people can report when there are violations then we make sure that we have a process by which they can lose that license if they repeatedly violate local ordinances,” she said.
The Committee declined to take a vote on new language and will meet again on May 20th to continue working on potential changes.
